CHURCH SITE FETCHES $1 MILLION ABOVE RESERVE

A FORMER church site at Elsternwick has sold for $1 million above reserve as bidders battled it out to snare the prime development site.

A local developer paid $4.326 million for the Uniting Church property at 64-66 Orrong Road.

The sale represented a capital value of $2463/sqm on the 1756sqm site which is occupied by three former church buildings totalling 880sqm. The site, located within a general residential zone, also has another 630sqm of vacant land at the rear that is accessible by laneway.

Ted Dwyer, who marketed the property along with Colliers International colleagues Jeremy Gruzewski and Tom Ryan, says bidding was fierce, with more than 100 bids from multiple buyers recorded.

"The strong sale price of $4.326 million was a fantastic result, more than $1 million above the reserve," he says.

"Prospective purchasers were particularly eager to secure the property due to its prime position within close proximity to Glen Huntly Road and major transport linkages.

"While the current church buildings created some uncertainty around development potential, most buyers were willing to look past this with visions for creating a character-filled and unique end product. This resulted in a brilliant outcome on auction day."

Dwyer says the property had not been used by an active congregation for nearly 25 years. Until recently it had been used as an archiving facility.

The Uniting Church in Australia will apply proceeds of the sale to an improved operation of the church's Victorian archives collection.